Electric musical instrument



Jan. 23, 1951 L. N. G. DE LAZARO 2,539,297

ELECTRIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT 2 Sheefcs-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 5, 1948 my 4, 40mm;

Jan. 23,1951 1.. MG. DE LAZARO ELECTRIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Feb. 5, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 5/ aizw Patented Jan. 23, 1951 UN I TED S TATES; BATE NT F Fl C E ELECTRIC MUSICALINSTRUMENT LuisNicolsGmez deLdzarmSantander, Spain Application February 5, 194s,-seria1No.6, 53o

InJ SRainFebruary' 27-, 1947 fi jGlaims. 1 Myinvention relates to musical" stringed -instrumentszin which the vibrations of the: strings are: amplified by electrical means: insteadof using iteasiez: tounderstand the. invention;issdescribed. M BPPl-id to'anrinstrument of; theviolin type, it

heme-understood. howevenzthatthis reference; to

- auiolin 'issolely for the. purpose of thede'scripticn. of, therinyentionand IdQBS'tIlOl'I constituteany-ik-ind:

ofiflimltation: of the: possibilitiescr-extent of the inuention, which, as "has: already been :stated above,v iscapa-ble. of application" to alla -kinds of very simple construction, resistant and easy to hand-1ev and. that will, at the. same time, allow the violinist,toleasily-graduate at will and-within very extensive limits, the-.intensity-or modulatio of the; soundproduced.

Another object of: the invention: is to provide a, stringedv instrument of the electric type that, should a breakdownoccur in the electricpart, will be.- capable of easy repair'by substituting, in avery short time, the damaged part by another.

The violin or other electric musical instrument constituting the object; of thisinvention affords themusician, moreover, a great 'j facility in;its

management or handlingand apartfrom-the fact.

that'it is lighter and less voluminous than the ordinary instruments, it ofiers theadvantage that the method of playing is'cxactly'the same as with thecrdina-ry instruments and, "therefore, the player-'hasno difiiculty inhandl this instrument nor does he needv anyspecial study, butv can play this instrument exactly in the same, way as an ordinary instrument, and; has not to bother himselfi the least about, the electrical part, with. the sole. .,exception. of graduatin the. intensity of the 'Sound produced;

Otherobjects-and advantages of this invention willbe deduced from the-description that follows,

connectionwithattached drawings, which represen,t,;as-an example, the invention incorporated, in: a. musical instrument of theviolin-type, and in: which,

Figure 1 is a. lateral elevation of a violin in which this invention has been incorporated.

Figure 2 .-is a. plan view.

FigureB is;a..detail-, on a. larger .scale, in longitudinal section, showinahow the. electric parts, are .lodgedinthe body .of the, violin- Figure, 4 isa view of thev crystal. plckaup.

Figure v.5. isa. section of, thisbrystal pick-up through thenline. V--V of Figure 4;.

Figures, 6 and 7 are,, respectively a front elevation-and. an, upright. section of the bridge vthat transmits the vibrations. of the. strings tov .the crystal picki-up. 7

.Figures, 8 and '9 are a similar elevation and section of another form of constructionof the bridge.

FigureslO'and 11 epresent in, a similar mannera, third iormof construction of the bridge.

Figure 12 shows a schematic drawing of the electric connections.

In connection with these figures that represent a preferable form'of carrying out or adapting the invention, it will be seen thatthe violin has; externally, an; appearance similar to that of ordinary viol-ins, with the sole difierence that it does. notcontain the usual sound-box.

The body of the violin is formed by a bar I' of wood or of some other material to form, as it were; the central stem of the instrument;v and that is-not necessarily of greater width than that necessary-to hold the strings 2. The body I1 forms, atone of its ends, the neck '3, as in the ordinary violins,and'the tuning-head 4 provided with the keys or pegs 5 for tensioning and. fixing the, strings.

. Ata point half-way-along the body 1 of the. violinthe. bridge Bis. placed, on which the, strings 21 rest. "This: .bridge.,:.as. shown, in greater detail in'liiguresfiaand 7 is constitutedzby a metallic piece the .upper'arched: edgeof; which !0 has four the rod. [2. they are transmitted to; the crystal pickmp l6;

In some cases it would be as well to make sure of obtaining a more ample transmission of these vibrations, to adopt the dispositions shown in Figures 8 and 9, in which the metal bar [3 that transmits the vibrations from the bridge to the crystal pick-up, instead of being straight, as in Figure 6, is forked in the shape of a Y, and in this case the two branches of the rod are joined at the upper part I of the bridge at points approximately at equal distances from the two notches at the right and the two at the left in which the strings rest.

It is obtained as a result of this arrangement that the distance that the vibrations have to travel along the upper edge I!) of the bridge until they reach one or other of the branches of the rod I3 is the same for all the strings, as a consequence of which a more faithful transmission of the sound vibrations from the strings to the pick-up is obtained.

Instead of constructing the bridge 'entirely of metal, as has been suggested up to this point, the bridge may also be constructed of some non-metallic material, as for instance, of plexiglas or other synthetic resin, if we dispose a ong the upper edge of such non-meta lic bridge, as shown in Figures 10 and 11. a metallic piece l4 complete y covering the edge of the bridge. This piece will serve as a rest for the strings 2, as ex lained ear ier herein. and has, moreover, attached or soldered to it the rod I2 or I3 to transmit the vibrations to the pick-up.

The bridge 9 rests on the violin with the interposition of a piece I5 which will isolate the vibrations. This piece I5 is usually made of rubber, but can a so be made of different kinds of other mater a s. and in particu ar, excellent resu ts can be obtained by having this 1'Stnl68 l5 made of synthetic resin, such as methyl methacry ate t at is known in the trade by the name of plexiglas.

The bridge 9 is not rigidly fixed to this restpiece I5, nor, either, to the body of the violin, but merely rests on the piece I 5, made of rubber, plexiglas or of other material, and is kept firmly pressed against the said piece by the tension of the strings. When fitted up in this manner, the bridge will offer the most excellent conditions for transmitting the vibrations of the strings to the crystal pick-up in all their intensity and purity.

The crystal nick-1 p I E is contained in a small cavity I! made inside the body of the violin in the proximity of the bridge 9 and is closed by a lid I8 that can be lifted up when necessary in ord r to repair any damage or breakdown.

In Figures 4 and 5 the construction of this crystal pick-up is shown in greater detail. It comprises a box or cover made up of two parts 20 and H made of some insulating material, joined to each other by screws, rivets or any other suitable means, and are so moulded that on being p aced one on top of the other they leave a cavity on the inside of the box.

In the interior cavity of this box'there is placed a sheet of quartz 22, having on its two opposite faces metallic coverings or platings 23, and that is fixed between the two walls of the box with the interposition of pieces of rubber One of the endsof this plate of quartz 22 is unchangeably joined to a metallic piece 25 that is approximately in the shape of a cross and the central body of which presents an opening into which the rod I2 or I3 can be introduced and fixed in place by means of the screw 26 in such a way that this piece will transmit to the quartz plate 22 the vibrations that it receives through the rod I2.

At the opposite end of the piece of quartz 22 the metal coverings of its two surfaces or faces 23 are connected by means of very flexible metallic ribbons 21 to the terminals 28 attached to one of the two pieces 20, 2| of insulating material to which, moveover, the conductors or wires that make the electric connections are soldered.

This crystal pick-up I6 is placed, as has been described above, in the interior of the cavity I! in the body of the violin and, if so desired, the empty space in this cavity may be filled with glass fibre or some other material to isolate vibrations or shocks.

The body I of the violin has, furthermore, one or two cavities 29, to contain the accessory apparatus such as a rheostat 3I, a condenser 32, the plug socket for the current 33 to connect the violin with the amplifying apparatus and loud speaker. The cavities 29 and 30 should preferably, be arranged as shown in Figure 3, one of them 29 being situated between the bridge 9 and the neck 3 of the violin and containing a small rheostat 3| that can be graduated by a button 35 that projects on the outside for the purpose of regulating the intensity of the sound, the other cavity 30 being situated near the end of the violin and containing a condenser 32 and the plug socket 33. The situation of these accessories as shown in the drawing is particularly well suited because the lead or conducting wire coming from the plug socket 33 does not inthe smal est degree hamper the player nor interfere with the playing 'or handling of the violin, or of the button 35 of the rheostat. These cavities are connected with each other by means of the conduits 34 through which the electric wires pass to make the connections.

The violin further comprises a chin rest 36 y for the purpose of permitting the player to rest the violin conveniently, and as the violin has no resonating box to which this chin rest may be attached, the body of the violin I has, at its end, a lateral arm 3'! suitably curved, to which the chin rest is fixed by means of some pressure or press screws 38 or by any other convenient means.

In Figure 12, I have shown the scheme of the electric connections, that are, as may be seen clearly in this figure, exceedingly simple. Of the two terminals of the crystal pick-up I6 "one connects directly with one of the terminals of the plug socket 33 and the other is connected with the rheostat 3| and on leaving this rheostat it connects with the other terminal of the plug socket 33.

Between the two terminals of the plug-socket 33 a condenser 32 is shunted. The plug-socket 33 is brought into connection by means of a suitable electric wire or cord conductor with a'cir-i has been stated above, the placing of this rheo-.

statin the body of the violin in the manner described above allows the violinist to regulate the instrument at will without having to interrupt his playing.

The absence of a resonator box in this violin has the further advantage of facilitating its use,

for, in the ordinary violins with a resonator box there are certain moments in which the resonator box hampers the position of the violinists left hand, whilst in the violin of my invention this inconvenience does not exist and the left hand is always able to maintain a natural position. I

As will be seen from the foregoing, my invention provides an electric violin, and, in general, an electrical stringed musical instrument of an exceedingly simple and robust construction, little liable to breakdowns, and which, should such a breakdown occur, can easily be repaired, for it is sufficient to lift the lid of the cavity in which the damaged part is situated and substitute another piece for it.

As will be understood, the above description refers to a preferential manner of applying the invention, and all kinds of modifications of detail that may be considered suitable may be introduced into it without departing from the spirit of the invention, as is pointed out in the claims. In particular, and. for the purpose of facilitating possible changes or repairs in the instrument, the bridge 9, the rod [2 and the crystal bridged end with the branches thereof secured:

to the bridge at spaced points thereon.

2. Musical instrument according to claim 1,

wherein the strings are arranged in groups on each side of a longitudinal center and said u branches are attached to the bridge at points respectively between strings of groups.

3. Musical instrument according to claim 1, wherein said bridge is of non-metallic material and carries at its upper edge a metal piece, said piece having its top edge adapted to receive and support the strings, and being connected to said rod.

4. Musical instrument according to claim 3, wherein said metal piece is arch-shaped.

5. Musical instrument according to claim 3, including vibration insulating means supporting the bridge.

6. Musical instrument according to claim 1, including a vibration insulating piece supported on said body and carrying said bridge, the bridge being held on said piece by the string tension.

7. Musical instrument according to claim 6, wherein said vibration insulating piece is methyl methacrylate.

8. Musical instrument according to claim 1, including a regulatable resistance in the circuit of the pick-up and wherein the means for coupling the pick-up to an output circuit includes a plug socket and a condenser across the pick-up circuit.

9. Musical instrument according to claim 8, wherein the pick-up is located in a body cavity in front of the bridge, the plug socket and the condenser are located in a body cavity near the tail piece end, and the regulatable resistance is located in the central part of the body and has a regulating button projecting opposite the fie;d of action of the bow hand of the player.

LUIS NICOLAS GOMEZ DE LAZARO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Dohan Mar. 9, 

